AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-130
The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor-
mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite
Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space
including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur
Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building,
launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio
satellites.
The news feed on
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/595853488003/list.admin/aus-city.com/ publishes news of Amateur
Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:
ans-editor at amsat.org.
In this edition:
* Deadline for 2015 TAPR/AMSAT Banquet ticket is Tuesday, May 12th at
1800 EDT
* AMSAT at Dayton Hamvention 2015
* Work Fox-1A at Dayton
* Top 10 Reasons to Come to Dayton
* 7th European CubeSat Symposium
* ISS Ham Video transmitter now transmitting
* NASA Hosts Media Call on Draft Solicitation for New Class of Launch
Services
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-130.01
ANS-130 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 130.01
From AMSAT HQ Kensington, MD.
May 10, 2015
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-130.01
Deadline for 2015 TAPR/AMSAT Banquet ticket is Tuesday, May 12th at 1800 EDT
The speaker at the 2015 TAPR/AMSAT Banquet will be Michael Ossmann,
AD0NR, on
"Adventures of a Hacker Turned Ham." Tickets ($35 each) MUST be
purchased online
in advance at the AMSAT Store no later than 1800 EDT (2300 UTC) Tuesday, May
12th. Tickets will not be sold at the Hamvention or at the door.
Tickets purchased online may be collected at the AMSAT booth (433-435,
444-446).
More information may be found at
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dad...T/488008652637/list.admin/aus-city.com/.[ANS thanks Alan, WA4SCA, for the above information]
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AMSAT at Dayton Hamvention 2015
The AMSAT theme for this year is "Year of The Fox", as we expect to launch
both Fox-1A and Fox-1C in 2015 and we're announcing the plans for Fox-1D and
Fox-1E.
The AMSAT booth is in the same location inside the Ball Arena as last year,
in booths 433-435 and 444-446. The Tracking Software Demos (433) and
Engineering & Education (434-435) are across the aisle from the Beginner's
Corner (444) and Membership, Books & Shirts (445-446). The closest entrance
to the AMSAT booth is the Ball Arena entrance (Door 1) at the southeast
corner of the building. The satellite QSO demonstrations will be outside
across from the entrance to the Ball Arena.
AMSAT Forum
-----------
The AMSAT forum will be Saturday morning from 11:15 a.m. through 1:30 p.m.
in Forum Room 5, close to the AMSAT booth. See the commercial vendor layout
map in the Hamvention program or the Hamvention website for the location of
Forum Room 5 (same as the last few years).
The following speakers will be presenting at the AMSAT Forum:
+ Moderator: Alan Biddle, WA4SCA
+ "AMSAT Status Report." Barry Baines, WD4ASW, AMSAT-NA President,
will highlight recent activities within AMSAT and discuss some
of the challenges, accomplishments, and exciting projects of the
organization.
+ "ARISS Report 2015" Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT-NA Vice President
for Human Spaceflight, will discuss ARISS development & operations
on the International Space Station.
+ "AMSAT-NA Fox Satellite Program." Jerry Buxton, N0JY, AMSAT-NA
Engineering Vice President, will discuss the upcoming launches
of four Fox spacecraft and exciting new engineering developments.
+ "AMSAT Satellite Operations." Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT-NA
Operations Vice President, will discuss current satellites, as
well as those planned for launch in the next year.
+ "AMSAT's Skunk Works." Tom Clark, K3IO, AMSAT-NA President
Emeritus, will discuss some innovative R&D items for future
spacecraft.
+ "Amateur Satellites, Education, and You!" EMike McCardel, KC8YLD,
AMSAT-NA Educational Relations Vice President, will discuss the
resources and equipment which supports the educational goals of
AMSAT-NA.
On-the-air Satellite Demonstrations
-----------------------------------
Keith Pugh, W5IU and other volunteers will be conducting satellite
demonstrations during the Hamvention. They will be demonstrating satellite
operation using a manual station to work all the currently available FM
satellites and SSB satellites. Hamvention has provided us a nice fenced area
right outside the Ball Arena entrance in which to do our satellite
demonstrations. A schedule of satellite passes for the Hamvention will be
available in the Beginner's Corner and in the demonstration area.
[ANS thanks the AMSAT Dayton Hamvention Posse for the above information]
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Work Fox-1A at Dayton
Bring your HT to Dayton Hamvention, you can work each other on the Fox-1
engineering unit repeater at the AMSAT Engineering Booth!
Uplink: 435.180 MHz FM, CTCSS 67.0 Hz
Downlink: 145.980 MHz FM ± Doppler (which should be minimal)
[ANS thanks Jerry Buxton, N0JY, AMSAT VP Engineering, for the above
information]
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Top 10 Reasons to Come to Dayton
10. Rub shoulders with 25,000 of your best friends at the largest hamfest
in the United States, including nearly all of the AMSAT Directors and
senior officers.
9. Find out how to organize a contact with the astronauts on the
International Space Station for your local school or youth group from our
Education and ARISS experts.
8. Pickup the latest AMSAT golf shirts, T-shirts, and hats. Get your copy
of the updated "Amateur Satellite Frequency Guide" (laminated frequency
chart) and Gould Smith's just revised "Getting Started with Amateur
Satellites" (book). We'll also have assembled wide-band preamps that are
great for portable operation.
7. See the latest equipment from Icom, Yaesu, Kenwood, Flex, Alinco, M2,
Arrow, and many other manufacturers of amateur radio equipment and
accessories. Take advantage of discounted pricing you won't find anywhere
else.
6. See demonstrations of SatPC32 and MacDoppler satellite tracking
software, and get your operational questions answered. Meet Don Agro,
author of MacDoppler (Friday & Saturday, 2-3 p.m.). See a demonstration
of the LVB Tracker, a computer interface to the Yaesu azimuth-elevation
rotors. Talk with Mike Young, who has built more LVB Trackers than anyone
else. Assembled LVB Trackers will be available.
5. Hear the latest on the *five* Fox satellites, the geosynchronous
rideshare opportunity, the International Space Station, other current and
future satellites, Education news, and an AMSAT update at the AMSAT Forum
Saturday, from 11:15 to 1:30.
4. Get one-on-one guidance on setting up your satellite station and making
contacts at our "Beginner's Corner". Witness live demonstrations of
contacts through satellites AO-7, FO-29, SO-50, AO-73, and the Fox-1C
engineering model using handheld antennas.
3. Bring your dual-band HT and listen (on 2m FM) to the Fox-1A engineering
model, and transmit through the model on 70cm. Meet and interact with
some of the Engineering Team members working on the Fox-1 satellites.
2. Get satellite station and operating tips from some of the best
satellite operators in the country, including John Papay K8YSE (1,405
grids confirmed), Doug Papay KD8CAO (1,045 grids), Drew Glasbrenner KO4MA
(1,036 grids), Paul Stoetzer (444 grids), and Keith Pugh W5IU (ARISS
Mentor).
1. Receive special premiums when you join or renew your AMSAT membership
at Dayton, including an updated "Amateur Satellite Frequency Guide"
(laminated frequency chart), an AMSAT pen/stylus, and special pricing on
the SatPC32 satellite tracking software.
[ANS thanks Steve, N9IP, for the above information]
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7th European CubeSat Symposium
7th European CubeSat Symposium that will take place at Liège (Belgium)
on 9-11
September 2015. The Symposium is co-organized by the von Karman
Institute and
the University of Liege (Space Structures and Systems Laboratory). As in the
previous years, the Symposium is open to all CubeSat community around
the World.
For more information and deadlines, please visit the symposium website
www.cubesatsymposium.euPlease remember to submit your abstract before the 15th June 2015.
If you are a student, please apply for the sponsorship before that date.
The Symposium will be followed by a short course in astrodynamics
organized by
the University of Liège (more information at this link).
[ANS thanks Dr. Masutti for the above information]
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ISS Ham Video transmitter now transmitting
Friday May 1st, 2015 the Ham Video transmitter on board the Columbus
module of the International Space Station was powered on and started
transmitting in "Blank Transmission" (BT) mode.
In this mode, the transmitter is operated without camera. The digital
TV signal is fully formatted, but the content of the video is black
and the content of the audio is at zero level. From a technical
perspective, the BT signal is all that is needed for testing and fine
tuning ground stations.
The European network of chained ground stations is presently nearly
complete. Six ground stations span the continent in "X" formation.
For each ascending pass over Europe, four stations provide about ten
minutes of solid copy and the same is true for descending passes:
- Ascending passes: Lisbon (Portugal ==> Poitiers (France) ==>
Casale Monferrato (North Italy ==> Kolo (Poland)
- Descending passes : Cork (Ireland) ==> Poitiers (France) ==>
Casale Monferrato (North Italy ==> Matera (South Italy.
The chained ground stations are streaming the digital video to the
BATC server (British Amateur Television Club). BATC set up a
multiviewer page, accessible at:
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/782983413868/list.admin/aus-city.com/The page shows all six streams from the chained ground stations. Each
view can be maximized to full screen and the audio of each stream can
be set to level or muted.
Presently, active stations stream technical data provided by the
software developed by Jean Pierre Courjaud F6DZP. Several data are
most interesting to observe:
- the "constellations", which visualize the QPSK (quaternary PSK)
modulated signal
- the digital Signal/Noise ratio = MER (dB) (Modulation Error Ratio)
- the control LEDs that change from red to green on decoding the
digital signal.
The Ham Video transmitter frequency is 2395MHz and the symbol rate is
2.0Ms/sec.
More information is available at:
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/028596277442/list.admin/aus-city.com/The Ham Video transmitter will stay on as long as on board operations
permit. When the ground stations will be operating reliably, the Ham
Video transmitter will be used to enhance ARISS school contacts.
Uplink will remain VHF audio only. This operational mode is dubbed
ARISS Ham TV.
[ANS thanks Gaston, ON4WF, for the above information]
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NASA Hosts Media Call on Draft Solicitation for New Class of Launch Services
NASA's Launch Services Program has issued a draft Request for Proposal
(RFP) for
a new Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS), which would be commercial launch
services for small satellites and experiments on science missions using a
smaller than currently available class of rockets.
NASA Logo
NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Monday, May 11 to
discuss
this strategic initiative, the RFP and the expectation for this class of
launch
services.
At present, launch opportunities for small satellites -- often called
CubeSats
or nanosatellites -- and small science missions are mostly limited to
ride-share
type arrangements, flying only when space is available on NASA and other
launches. The Launch Services Program seeks to develop alternatives to this
approach and help foster other launch services dedicated to transporting
smaller
payloads into orbit. The services acquired through such a contract will
constitute the smallest class of launch services used by NASA.
Participants in the media briefing are:
Mark Wiese, chief, Flight Projects Branch, Launch Services Program
Business
Office, NASA's Kennedy Space Center
Garrett Skrobot, mission manager, Educational Launch of Nanosatellites
(ELaNa), Launch Services Program, NASA's Kennedy Space Center
This solicitation, and resulting contract or contracts, is intended to
demonstrate a dedicated launch capability for smaller payloads that NASA
anticipates it will require on a recurring basis for future science and
CubeSat
missions. CubeSats already are used in markets, such as imagery
collection and
analysis. In the future, CubeSat capabilities will include abilities,
such as
ship and aircraft tracking, improved weather prediction, and broader
Internet
coverage.
NASA intends to award one or more firm fixed-price VCLS contracts to
accommodate
132 pounds (60 kilograms) of CubeSats a single launch or two launches
carrying
66 pounds (30 kilograms) each. The launch provider will determine the launch
location and date, but the launch must occur by April 15, 2018.
To listen to the media teleconference, call 321-867-1220, 321-867-1240 or
321-867-1260 or listen online at:
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/324921572416/list.admin/aus-city.com/Media may participate in the briefing by calling the Kennedy Space
Center news
center at 321-867-2468 within 15 minutes prior to the start of Monday's
teleconference to obtain a passcode for voice access.
The draft RFP is open for written questions and comments from industry
entities
until Wednesday, May 20. The final RFP, if issued, is anticipated to be
released
in June. The draft RFP may be accessed at:
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/540968981051/list.admin/aus-city.com/For more information about NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative, visit:
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/212096063779/list.admin/aus-city.com/NASA's Launch Services Program is focused on assuring the availability
of long-
term launch services for NASA while also promoting the continued
evolution of
the U.S. commercial space launch market. The capability anticipated to
meet the
requirement for a smaller launch vehicle represents an emerging category of
launch services.
For more information about NASA's Launch Services Program, visit:
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/711352519222/list.admin/aus-city.com/[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]
/EX
